“Fake news would tell you that we don’t care for Jews,” she told supporters, reading from notes as Roy Moore stood behind her. “I tell you all of this because I’ve seen it all, so I just want to set the record straight while they’re here.”

She waved to the reporters in the back of the room — many of them from New York and Washington — as the audience laughed, applauded and whistled, and Roy Moore smiled.

“One of our attorneys is a Jew” she said with a smirk and a sarcastic tone.

Thank you Kayla Moore (you ignorant @#$*)

NOTE: Huge thanks to the African-American population of Alabama for coming out and voting to save the United States from a “cracker, ass, cracker” like racist Roy Moore.

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SUPPORT NET NEUTRALITY(only takes a few minutes)
1. On a computer, (not your phone!), go to:www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express
2. Enter under “Proceeding” the numbers 17-108.
3. In comments, say you support Title 2 oversight of ISPs.
Also say that you support net neutrality.
*Fill in the form carefully; they’ve made it less friendly and impossible to fill in by phone, on purpose.*Don’t be silenced. Do it now. Pass it on.

It’s the holiday season again, so that means it’s time for our annual Thanksgiving party and feast. It was warm and sunny, just another beautiful day in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles and Southern California, and time for a celebration. We always wonder why people want to face traffic and crowds to travel to miserable weather for the holidays when they can have summer here in late November and December!

We had about 20 guests this year (family and friends) and the party started an hour earlier at 3pm in the afternoon. The agenda for the evening (as always) is welcome, drinks and appetizers as the meal prep is finished, and then dinner and dessert served buffet style.

Thanksgiving 2017 – Pretty Flowers!

Would you like to start with an adult beverage?

On The Menu: 2 large turkeys, 3 kinds of stuffing, corn pudding, creamed spinach, asparagus, cauliflower & brussel sprouts, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato & carrot puree, homemade challah bread, cranberry sauce, and dessert. I made Grandma’s Cherry Cheesecake (big hit!), a Costco apple pie, a pumpkin pie, 3 kinds of cookies, 2 kinds of fudge and lots of booze. We also baked cornbread & muffins (see our previous Blog Post) and froze them, but there was too much food so we didn’t serve them and they will be saved for another day (or days as there are 4 batches in the freezer). And there was a bread and hummus appetizer which we didn’t eat because who wants to fill up on bread and garbanzo bean paste before a fantastic meal like this?

Thanksgiving Feast – dinner plate 2017

Pictures of the Thanksgiving Feast:

Thanksgiving Feast 2017 – CHALLAH!

Desserts:

Thanksgiving Feast – Dessert! 2017

We usually make our Grandma’s Cherry Cheesecake for the Thanksgiving Feast.

Last year we didn’t. So everyone asked about cheesecake and they were sadly disappointed… and then we got some good Jewish guilt for the holiday. This year, by “royal decree” we were instructed that there had to be cheesecake and we did some “midnight baking” without big mixing bowls (because they were all in use for meal prep). And so there was Grandma’s Cherry Cheesecake for dessert, and it was a Big Hit and everyone was very happy!

NOTE: We are so blessed to have it so good! We are so thankful for our friends and family, and the wonderful food we have to eat, and all the modern conveniences that are usually taken for granted everyday. We also think of the less fortunate living on our city streets without homes and food and hope you will too this holiday season.

Also Thanksgiving means NFL FOOTBALL all day long on a Thursday!

Minnesota Vikings 30 – Detroit Lions 23

and the Halftime Spectacular Show at the Dallas Cowboys game:
(the Cowboys lost, but it was a helluva halftime show)

Los Angeles Chargers 28 – Dallas Cowboys 6

Washington Redskins 20 – New York Giants 10

Thank you “South Park”

Hope You Had A Happy Turkey Day!
More great recipes here on my Blog! (see the sidebar>>> or use the search box^^^)

stuffing in the oven – someone hit BROIL by accident, almost burned them all

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Turkey dinner leftovers for breakfast on Friday, so a toasted chicken&cheese sandwich for dinner and a piece of leftover pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.Happy Pie Day and Good Shabbos!

NOTE: The day after Thanksgiving is known as “pie day” around my house. Not to be confused with “Pi Day” on March 14, but it is a Friday and we always have leftover pie because everyone eats all our cheesecake….

Leftover Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream

This Day In History: On Nov. 25, 1965, Arlo Guthrie took out the garbage…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease muffin pan and/or baking dish with more vegetable oil
Use a ~1/4 cup of batter for each muffin (fill each ~2/3 full)
Bake for ~18-20 mins or until they pass the toothpick test
Let cool and enjoy.

NOTE: This is basically the recipe on the Corn Meal box, so make adjustments for taste, time and temperature as necessary. We also like to add stuff before baking.
And the pictures show the product of a Doubled Recipe, so there will be fewer muffins.

Cornbread with BACON, cheese and jalapeño!

6 strips of Bacon (cooked and diced into very small pieces)
2/3 small block Colby Jack Cheese (diced into very small pieces)
1/2 small can of Diced Jalapeños (diced again into very small pieces)

Add Bacon, cheese and jalapeño to the batter mix and bake!
Adjust baking time as necessary, usually a little longer.

TIP: Bake in advance and freeze.
Let muffins cool completely and FREEZE them.
Then thaw them out and warm them before serving on the day of the party.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!More great recipes here on my Blog! (see the sidebar or use the search box)

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We didn’t go to the L.A. Decompression event or any of the other local “Burning Man” related post-event activities. Instead we saw Pete Townshend’s Classical “Quadrophenia” at the Greek Theatre (see our previous Blog post) and went to the L.A. County Fair.

And we bought a NEW AUTOMOBILE!

“You Get A Car!” – “You Get A Car!”

And then DEPRESSION set in….

There are almost finished Blog Posts almost ready to publish, and we can’t even finish them. We haven’t told the stories of Burning Man and the Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun.

JoshWillTravel Eclipses the Sun!

We cleaned Vanessa (the van) and cleaned a bunch of stuff and did laundry, and then cleaned a bunch of stuff including our bike (which we didn’t leave on the Playa).

We’re still not done cleaning stuff…. and we have too much stuff.

It’s raining!! It was raining briefly just now (4am Friday morning)

We were in Ashland, Oregon for a week, between the Eclipse and Burning Man, and have a few stories to tell. We lost most of our pictures from the first part of the trip when we crushed our iPhone and we’re still pretty bummed out about that.

We had such a good time on our summer trip and then we got home. We were SO HAPPY and we didn’t expect the post-adventure “return to real life” to be so difficult to process.

9 days in the desert and other “interesting” experiences during our 3 weeks on the road.

We haven’t been able to get stuff done. Feeling sad and lonely all the time….
except for our three dogs, who are our constant loyal and loving companions.

The current Government and political climate are also contributing to our depression and anxiety. There is no end in sight. We don’t even want to talk about it or blog about it.

On The Menu: Stirfry shrimp, sautéed asparagus, brown&wild rice and an iced espresso

What’s for Dinner?

That’s all for now.
It’s Saturday afternoon, I’m going out on this beautiful day.
Posted on Monday Morning.

p.s. Saturday afternoon we found this painting at Goodwill while “Thrifting”:

We also found an unpriced PYREX pie plate and when I asked “how much?” they wanted $6.99, so we passed.

NOTE: Actually we found 2 Glasbake and one PYREX glass pie pans that weren’t priced and took them to the Manager who was standing nearby with a Clerk. He instructed her, “Go look these up in the Back and if they’re Pyrex jack up the price, jack it up.” This happened right in front of me. When she came back the 2 Glasbake pans were taped together and marked $4.99 and the PYREX pan was marked $6.99. So, NO THANKS.

We did buy this signed, original painting titled “Bernie Sanders and Moth Orchid” by Peter Gullerud for $7.99 though. He’s an ex-Disney animator and fine artist, who confirmed Sunday via email that it was indeed his work. SCORE!

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NOTE:BLOG IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION! This Blog post isn’t finished… but we have to publish because we aren’t sure if wordpress is saving it and it’s 3:15am.

Forget Football, let’s have Sunday Brunch! Okay, so we watched the morning games and then hit the road after 1pm. The Jacksonville Jaguars had just tied the Los Angeles Chargers at the end of the fourth quarter and were headed for overtime, and we had to leave because we had “a long way to go and a short time to get there” with unknown traffic before arriving at lunch…

405 Freeway south to Manhattan Beach

It was cloudy, overcast and there was a lot of traffic, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We made pretty good time, past the 101/405 intersection and up the hill, past West L.A., past the 405/10 intersection and LAX, past Venice and Marina del Rey, and down to the Manhattan Beach Blvd exit. And of course, Manhattan Beach Blvd was all torn up and under construction and only one lane, so the delay made us late. We got lucky and found metered parking in front of the restaurant, so we were only 15 minutes late.

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Manhattan Beach

Sunday Afternoon at the Manhattan Beach Pier

Manhattan Beach Post (a David LeFevre restaurant)

Manhattan Beach Post (a David LeFevre restaurant)

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NOTE: Still working on the “Road Trip” and “Burning Man” Blogs, be patient.

There’s a new place to eat in town! Fat Sal’s is open and located in the old Johnny Rocket’s space on the corner of Ventura and Balboa.

Fat Sal’s is OPEN in Encino!

Indoor and Outdoor seating available. The Patio is covered now so you can sit and watch the cars go by in the shade. Parking is still limited in the small lot, but there is a lot of metered street parking (8am-8pm everyday except Sunday) available nearby.

There’s a big menu on the wall. Order at the counter and wait for your number to be called (actually they give you a pager). They’re makin’ sandwiches over here!

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Fat Sal’s in Encino!

Fat Sal’s in Encino!

Fat Sal’s in Encino!

Fat Sal’s in Encino!

NOTE: They have a bunch of flat screen TELEVISIONS (with all the games on) inside!

Signature “Fat” sandwiches & burgers, salads & wraps, fries, sides, and shakes are the board of fare. So, I had a Philly Cheesesteak and it was a good Philly Cheesesteak.

They have 2 digital “self-service” soda fountains with many beverage choices. On a sad note, they charge 25 cents for sauces (WHICH IS STUPID AND BAD FOR BUSINESS). but when we asked for mustard for our sandwich and BBQ sauce for our onion rings, he gave us a plastic cup of each and told me it was “on the house”.

CLICK ON ANY SMALL PIC TO SEE A LARGER PIC AND VIEW THE GALLERYAND THEN CLICK AGAIN TO VIEW THE PIC AT FULL SIZE!

And the “Big Fat Fatty” Challenge for $49.99!

“Big Fat Fatty” Food Challenge!

ON THE MENU: Philly Cheesesteak and Onion Rings with a Dr Pepper

Philly Cheesesteak and Onion Rings!

The Cheesesteak gets a thumbs up and the burgers got a thumbs up too. The fries were limp, undercooked and not good at all, but the onion rings were terrific. Nice mixed Encino crowd checking out the new place, most likely will stay in business for awhile.

We were just going to go to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) but the parking lot was full, which indicated the restaurant would be crowded and busy, so we detoured to Fabrocini’s Italian Kitchen just two blocks away on Ventura Blvd (near Reseda Blvd) in Tarzana and we were glad that we did.

We really like this restaurant! We’ve been here before and it’s always really good. Good food, good service, good atmosphere and pretty good prices. They have free parking in the rear and there is ample metered street parking (8am-8pm everyday except Sunday).

We arrived without a reservation and were seated immediately. The dining room was busy and there were several large family parties, but unlike CPK, the noise was not a factor at all. It’s not a very big place occupying two store front windows, with the open kitchen on one side and the dining room on the other. They do good business (lunch, dinner, catering and delivery), and they also have beer & wine on premises.

Fabrocini’s Open Kitchen and Dining Room

There are pictures of all things Italian on the walls and the Dodgers game was on the television in the dining room (as reflected on the pic below).

NOTE: We are still boycotting the Dodgers and Time-Warner/Spectrum/SportsNetLA (see the previous Blog) but it was on and we didn’t pay attention because we currently don’t care about Major League Baseball until we can watch the Dodgers games on television FOR FREE.

Leaning Tower of Pizza!

The Menu:

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fresh baked bread

Caesar salad

pasta with broccoli

meat lasagna

A GOOD dinner! The service (waitstaff & busboy) was excellent and the management strives to make sure everything is beyond satisfactory. We should add that although our intention was to eat at CPK, the experience at Fabrocini’s was much better! We still like CPK, but the difference in the quality of food, service and care between a family owned restaurant and a huge corporate chain is exemplified in this comparison. And we should also mention, the cost wasn’t very different and there wasn’t a “loyalty club” discount involved, so we didn’t have to show them our phone or give them a code.

NOTE: Don’t fill up on bread and salad or appetizers, because the entrees are large and delicious! They also have good desserts but we didn’t indulge this time.

LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR, TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE WRITER/BLOGGER

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